The FTC Act, which prohibits “unfair or deceptive acts or practices”; the Lanham Act, which is the federal false advertising law; and. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Under the law, statements in advertisements must be truthful, cannot be misleading or unfair, and must be based on evidence. For some specialized products or services, additional rules may apply.
There are a lot of federal laws that regulate ads in one way or another. The Telephone Disclosure and Dispute Resolution Act of 1992 requires the FTC to enact regulations on the advertising, operation, and billing and collection procedures for pay-per-call or 900 telephone services. Regulations must include certain provisions, such as price disclosure requirements, mandatory warnings about services aimed at children, and mandatory disclosure in account statements. The Act also directs the FTC to enact regulations that extend to pay-per-call services the billing dispute provisions of the Fair Credit Billing Act, 15 U., S, C.
The law was amended by the Comprehensive Smoking Education Act of 1986 (Pub). The law was amended by the Drug Price Competition Act and Restoration of Patent Deadlines of 1984 (Pub). In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission regulates false or misleading advertisements. However, with an increasingly global economy, the regulations of other countries, or even the laws of specific states in the U.S.
UU. , the medium may also have its own set of regulations, such as telephone sales, television commercials or social media marketing. In addition, some heavily regulated industries have more stringent marketing requirements, such as the financial industry, products for children, food and beverages, and tobacco. To improve segmented marketing initiatives to reach specific customers, sellers and advertisers rely on consumer data, and some laws, such as the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation, have been enacted to protect consumers.
Beyond what is required by law, many marketing associations have a code of ethics and some companies have adopted their own standards of practice for ethical marketing. The following links are starting points for exploring marketing regulations. In addition to these resources, look for regulations, laws or policies related to the product or service industry, or policies related to the platform or medium in which you promote. The main regulatory body for the advertising market is the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Originally, the FTC was created to prevent unfair methods of competition in commerce, however, lately its activity has focused on consumer protection. Today, the FTC strives to effectively enforce the law; represents the interests of consumers; shares its experience with federal and state legislatures, U.S. and international government agencies; makes recommendations; and actively participates in hearings, conferences, and education programs. In response to the FTC's call for stronger and more effective self-regulation of online behavioral advertising practices, major media and marketing trade associations (IAB, 4A's, AAF, ANA, the Direct Marketing Association) joined together in the Digital Advertising Alliance to create the Self-Regulatory Program for Online Behavioral Advertising.
To find specific articles on areas related to marketing regulations or marketing ethics, search databases or the Internet using a combination of keywords...